Cops probe reported kidnapping, million-dollar gold heist

A Houston-based coin dealer told investigators that three robbers stole a large sum of gold, kidnapped him and left him injured along a roadside near Huntsville.

Brian Danek, 38, was found with a head wound Tuesday morning around noon on Highway 150 near Cold Springs in Walker County. In his LinkedIn profile, Danek describes himself as the owner of Bayou City Bullion & Coins. He told Houston police that he is a collectible bullion dealer who sells to local and Internet buyers.

The Walker County Sheriff’s Office is also investigating the case.

The Houston Police Department is investigating the case as an aggravated robbery, auto theft and kidnapping that began at Tuesday at 10 a.m. in the River Oaks neighborhood in the 3200 block of Reba.

Danek told police that he was on his way to a meeting with someone who claimed to be a Houston businessman, interested in buying gold, when he was grabbed by three armed men.

He told police the men stole his 2011 GMC Acadia with merchandise and he was found later in Walker County along road, HPD spokesman John Cannon told chron.com.

Danek told investigators he was carrying “more than seven figures” worth of gold goins and bullion, when three men grabbed him and shoved him into the back of a dark colored sedan with tinted windows.

The man said he woke up on the roadside an few hours later. While escaping from his captors, he hit his head jumping over a guardrail and severely injured his head. When he woke up, the man, the gold and his watch were gone, he told police.

Anybody that has any information on this incident is asked to call the Houston Police Department’s robbery division at 713-308 -7100 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS (8477).